The upcoming grudge match between Oscar De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas is being billed as Bad Blood. According to De La Hoya, it also could be hyped as Turf War.

De La Hoya and Vargas both live in the L.A. area and the Golden Boy said yesterday on a conference call that when the Aztec Warrior loses this bout he won’t be able to come out of his house for a few weeks.

“I don’t think he’ll have to move out of Los Angeles, but maybe for a few weeks he won’t be able to leave his home,” said De La Hoya.

In a sport where hype often is faked and hyperbole is only for the benefit of ticket sales, the bad blood between these two American-born fighters of Mexican descent is red hot. Vargas (22-1), the Aztec Warrior, has claimed that he is more Mexican than De La Hoya. De La Hoya (34-2) said he can’t wait for Sept. 14 when he will let his fists do the talking.

But yesterday De La Hoya wasn’t holding back. He predicted he would win the fight, which will take place in Las Vegas, convincingly and that there likely will be a knockout.

“My feeling is that every fighter that I have fought that’s come from the greater L.A. area, except for Shane Mosley, has had some kind of a beef with me,” said De La Hoya. “It’s only natural. I guess southern California is only big enough for one champion, and that’s where all the anger comes from.

“We want to control our turf,” said De La Hoya. “And come Sept. 14 there will be only one champion and that’s where all the anger comes from because this is about territory. This is about who’s the state champion.”

These battle lines are clearly drawn between these elite fighters. Vargas, 24, whom De La Hoya refers to as an angry person, is the trash-talking street kid. De La Hoya, 29, who has branched out into music and acting, is the Americanized pretty boy, according to Vargas.

De La Hoya, whose only losses have been to Mosley and Felix Trinidad, knows the pain of having suffered defeat at the hands of a fellow L.A. boxer and a fellow Latino. It’s the humiliation of those losses that are motivating De La Hoya for this fight against Vargas.

“I’ve already experienced that feeling,” said De La Hoya. “You feel like you let a lot of people down. I don’t want to experience that again.”